The formation of a sealed area with a low bio-burden or sterile characteristic on the outside of and adjacent the closure of a container is desirable in a number of medical applications. A seal exerting an antibacterial effect outside of and at the neck and closure portion of containers for medical fluids would be desirable as one step in minimizing contamination of the medical fluid when the contents are removed, for example by pouring, thereby decreasing the risk of infection to patients. Also, it would be desirable to provide antibacterial seals to the outside of a closure and neck on pharmaceutical vials containing liquids or solids, to allow preparation of antibacterial injection sites for access to the pharmaceuticals contained therein, for mixture with other medical solutions. Such antibacterial sealing of the outside of medical connection devices having cooperating connector members could reduce the possible contamination of fluids carried therebetween.
By this invention, a method is provided for forming an antibacterial seal on the outside of a medical fluid container, typically at the neck and closure of the container. In addition, the seal can function as an outer closure, protecting the inner closure from damage. Also by this invention the closure and container neck of pharmaceutical vials may be sealed by an outer closure to provide a sterile or low bio-burden area at the interface of the outer closure and the pharmaceutical vial neck and closure, thus providing an uncontaminated site for access to the pharmaceutical contained therein. Also, by using an antibacterial seal for placement over the outside of medical connection devices having cooperating connector members, the risk of contamination to the connection and subsequent contamination to the fluids passing therebetween can be minimized by the antibacterial effect of the seal.